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Fr. Sopocko and Another Famous Confessor

By Felix Carroll (Feb 14, 2012)Father Seraphim Michalenko, MIC, one of the world's leading experts on St. Faustina and the message of Divine Mercy, notes the similarities between the Blessed Michael Sopocko (1888-1975), and St. Claude de la Colombiere, SJ (1641-1682).

Father Sopocko served as confessor and spiritual director to St. Faustina, who received revelations of The Divine Mercy in the 1930s. Saint Claude served as confessor and spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who received the revelations of the Sacred Heart in the 1670s.

"Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, like St. Faustina, had doubts at first about her revelations," says Fr. Seraphim.

He continues, "It was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's confessor who was able to spread the message of the Sacred Heart outside the convent. This is the same situation with St. Faustina and the message of The Divine Mercy. Saint Faustina was in the convent, but it was Fr. Sopocko who helped turned the motors to get all the things the Lord asked for to be done.

"Here's another interesting thing," Fr. Seraphim adds. "Saint Claude Colombiere died on Feb. 15. That's the same day that Fr. Sopocko died! And Feb. 15 happens to be St. Faustina's name day — the day of her patron saint, St. Faustus!"

As Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD, mentions in a series he wrote on the subject for this website, "Much like the traditional devotion to the Sacred Heart, our Lord gave to St. Faustina new forms in which His Merciful Heart was to be honored, and new vessels for a fresh outpouring of His grace: the Image of The Divine Mercy, new prayers such as the Chaplet of The Divine Mercy and the prayers for the three o'clock Hour of Mercy, and, of course, a new feast for the universal Church — the Feast of The Divine Mercy, intended for the Sunday after Easter."

Father Seraphim notes how it took 300 years for Fr. Claude Colombiere to be canonized. "And here, Fr. Sopocko died in 1975, and he's already beatified," he says.